The practice of barbecuing or grilling provides a uniquely delicious and enjoyable means of preparing food. Among other things, it allows food to be prepared over an open fire, creating a distinct, savory flavor. Moreover, because it can be practiced outdoors and in remote locations away from conventional kitchens, it allows the chef to prepare the food while participating in other social and/or festive activities.
Some dangers and inconveniences of grilling arise because of the risk of fire and/or burning or overcooking of one's food. For instance, several commonly grilled foods, such as fish and chicken contain oils and fatty substances that, when exposed to the open flame, can fuel a dangerous fire and/or result in the burning or overcooking of one's food. To avoid these common problems, the chef is required to closely supervise the food's preparation, monitor the flame size, and otherwise ensure that the food is not too close to the flame. If the chef becomes preoccupied, otherwise neglects the grill, or is merely inexperienced, his or her neglect can easily lead to a dangerous fire and/or accidentally burn the meal.
Several mechanisms have been developed to allow the chef to more easily carry out this function. U.S. Pat. No. 4,120,280 to Iverson et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,932,390 to Ceravolo, U.S. Pat. No. 6,609,512 to Poe, Jr. et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,591,740 to Hsu, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,944,008 to Winkel all disclose means of varying the distance between the flame and food through manual, mechanical means. Each of them, however, still requires the chef's constant supervision of the food's preparation as well as the chef's manual adjusting of the height of the cooking-grid or the flame. Other grills utilize a cover that keeps air from entering the grill and, thus, stifling the flame by starving it of oxygen, such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,535,749 to Schlosser et al. This mechanism, however, can only be used with charcoal-fueled grills and is imperfect because, although it can oftentimes prevent a dangerous fire, it will nevertheless sometimes allow food to become overcooked or burned.
Other grills utilize an adjustable gas valve that allows the chef to adjust flame size and intensity in order to regulate the temperature of the food and minimize fires and/or overcooking. Such mechanisms, however, still require the chef's constant supervision and cannot be used with grills that are fueled by charcoal rather than gas. Improvements on such gas mechanisms are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,041,768 to Giammona et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,628,242 to Higley, U.S. Pat. No. 6,684,757 to Petersen, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,733,276 to Kopping. Each of these patents discloses varying timing mechanisms that serve to automatically cut off gas supply to the grill at the expiration of a predetermined time period, thereby preventing a fire and/or overcooking of the food. These mechanisms, however, also suffer from several shortcomings. First, they can only be used with gas-fueled grills and cannot be used with charcoal-fueled grills, which many chefs prefer. Moreover, they do not provide a reliable means of minimizing fires because they operate based on a timer and grill fires are unpredictable and can ignite at any time. Finally, such timers will shut off the flame completely in order to prevent a fire and, in so doing, halt the cooking process altogether.
Therefore, there is a long-felt need in the art for a grilling mechanism that will automatically minimize fires and/or burning or overcooking of one's food, is compatible with both gas-fueled and charcoal-fueled grills, is sensitive to the constant changes in grill temperature, and will minimize a dangerous grill fire while still keeping food warm.